To prep athletes and their parents, there’s arguably no offseason coach/trainer more popular. Among local high school football coaches, however, the consensus is he’s part of a problem that’s only getting bigger.

What nobody can deny, though, is Lewis and his brand “Body By Tra” have become a serious power player on the local prep football scene. And it’s only getting more powerful.

“Power player? I mean, I don’t know,” Lewis said. “I don’t consider myself that. If there’s one thing you’ll notice about me and our program it’s that we’re very humble and we just like to let the kids and parents evaluate us and see what we do.

“I like to say we’re the best-kept secret. People find out about us by word of mouth. All these top-level athletes have been in our programs for years. The kids sell us and the parents sell us more than we sell ourselves.”

If Body By Tra is a secret, then the secret’s clearly getting out. Every offseason a bigger crop of local talent clamors to be part of Lewis’ 7-on-7 team. And who can blame them? Lewis’ 2012 team had nine players who wound up getting college scholarships.

This year’s team featured the likes of Bishop Amat receiver Tyler Vaughns and running back/linebacker Anthony Camargo along with St. Francis receiver Dylan Crawford and West Covina defensive back Isiah Love. Whittier Christian tight end Noah Evans, the son of former Raiders quarterback Vince Evans, also is on the team.

The quarterback? None other than Santa Margarita standout K.J. Costello, who is considered to be one of the top prospects on the West Coast. And because one team wasn’t enough to fit the amount of players Lewis had at his disposal, he had a second team as well.

Lewis, a graduate of Rancho Cucamonga High in 2000, was a standout on the Cougars’ 1999 CIF championship team. He earned a scholarship to Wisconsin as a outside linebacker/defensive end and finished his college career at Sacramento State. He had brief stints on the practice squads of the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans before trying his hand in the Canadian Football League.

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What began as Lewis working out two local athletes at a park in 2006 has blossomed into a business Lewis claimed isn’t profitable but certainly is growing. The price per workout ranges between $20-$40 depending on the athletes’ age and whether it’s on the field or in the weight room.

Lewis estimated he spends $20,000-30,000 per offseason on Body By Tra. It’s easy to see how expenses pile up as Lewis often piles his 7-on-7 teams into two, 15-passenger vans. They travel around Southern Calfiornia and have gone as far Las Vegas to compete in tournaments against other top private teams. In June, Lewis will take a convoy to play in a tournament in Florida.

It’s all part of an increasingly football-centric offseason many athletes now take part in. Instead of playing in other sports at their schools, the players who choose to focus solely on the gridiron do so by getting specialized training.

“That’s what fueled me to go 110 percent with this,” Lewis said. “You had a lot of people out there charging parents and kids for recruiting. Telling them, ‘I can get your kid a scholarship,’ that’s not true. What earns you a scholarship is Friday nights.

“I want to have a program that works with integrity and puts kids first. Everybody on my staff is a certified trainer, the whole package. I want this to be a one-stop shop for kids as well as parents. We’re going to get your kid bigger, faster, stronger, but you’re also going to be athletically developed at the positions you’re training at on the field.”

In recent years, several private offseason training options for football players have sprouted up, be it former Bishop Amat quarterback Chris Rix’s “Champion Training” or former Los Altos defensive stalwart Brigham Harwell’s “Trench Hogs.”

But none has been as controversial, or popular, as Lewis’ Body By Tra. In addition to skilled training, Lewis offers his athletes recruiting exposure. Besides his 7-on-7 team, Lewis has a myriad of training services for athletes. It’s not just football players, either. Bonita girls basketball star Nikki Wheatley, who will play at UNLV next season, is a client of Lewis. As is Bonita water polo standout Samantha Snow, who will attend Arizona State this fall.

Athletes from all over are starting to catch on, too. Lewis said several football players from Northern California made the trip every weekend to be a part of his workouts this offseason. There even was a player from Colorado who did the same.

Lewis is based mostly out of Upland, but his weekend workouts this year have been held at Chaffey High in Ontario. It’s Lewis’ supposed ties to Upland’s football program that have drawn the ire of several local high school football coaches who point to a steady stream of athletes who trained under Lewis and later transferred to Upland.

One such notable transfer came last year when former San Dimas running back Jake Payton, then a member of the Body By Tra 7-on-7 team, transferred to Upland in the offseason. Payton later was ruled ineligible by the CIF-Southern Section on grounds his transfer was athletically motivated. Payton later played at Bonita.

Lewis denied he has any ties to Upland football and this year instituted a policy in which members of his coaching staff have no affiliation with any high school program. That wasn’t the case last year, though, when Lewis’ quarterback coach Mike Esquivel, a 2000 Upland graduate and Upland Pop Warner coach, also was on staff at Upland. Esquivel no longer is on staff at either place.

Several local football coaches declined to comment on the record about Lewis and Body By Tra when contacted about this story. But many expressed concerns off the record that ranged from having their players illegally recruited to play for another school while being part of Body By Tra to having parents be sold unrealistic dreams about their child’s chances to get a football scholarship.

Like it or not, Lewis is here to stay and his print on the local football scene continues to grow. His case as to why Body By Tra is so popular so quickly is compelling when viewed from the standpoint of a teen-aged football prospect and his parents.

“Where else can someone go from being nobody to all of a sudden being one of the top prospects in the state of California and getting recognized?” Lewis said. “These kids want to be a part of this more than anything. What kids are looking for is a place to get exposure. With a 7-on-7 tournament, if you can go to one place on a Saturday and Sunday and see the best skill talent in all of Southern California, that’s a no-brainer for the recruiting services.”